The Story Games Names Project

Spanish
Marriage and heritage
In modern Spain normal people
keep their surnames (with their
own “apellido paterno” and “apellido
materno”) no matter if they get
married or not. Women are never
using the husband surname or surnames.
Only nobility and conservative
old aristocratic families keep
such uses.
Sometimes, in special cases
mainly related to the heritage of an
important wealth or signature belonging
to the mother, some people
may ask the authorities to reverse
the order of their surnames. This allows
heirs of the second generation
to use the surname associated with
the heritage. The surnames of the
mother are otherwise lost in the
second generation.
In special situations people may
ask the central authorities for a
complete change in their surnames,
although it is uncommon.
Using one surname unofficially
In non-formal situations people
may use only one “apellido”
for brevity. Indeed, it is typical that
sports, political and cultural celebrities
are known by only one surname,
typically the first one.
Dashed surnames abroad
A dash is not used to separate
surnames in Spain. Only in very
exceptional cases the parts of a
composed surname are joined by a
dash.
However, a dash is used sometimes
when Spanish people need to
use their names abroad. This avoid
other people to get confused and
think that the “apellido paterno” is
part of the first name:
e.g.
“María García Barbosa” may
write her name as “María García-
Barbosa” when sending a paper to
an international journal, or when
attending a conference in England
to avoid getting a badge reading:
“M.G. Barbosa” instead of “M. García
Barbosa”.
Asterisks
All the names in the following
lists marked with an asterisk are
either no longer frequent among
young people, or somehow restricted
to a region of Spain. Some of
them are also quite old-fashioned.
132 - Story Games Names Project